- Tuesday, 24 November 2009
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MoD has IT crisis
AS WE ALL KNOW, the British Armed Forces work on top secret missions as efficiently as they do because of the high quality information technology at their disposal, yet this becomes a problem if the new equipment doesn’t arrive on time.
The MoD is currently aiming to replace hundreds of its existing computer systems with a new and improved single system dubbed the Defence Information Infrastructure or (DII). The ATLAS consortium is leading the programme to design, install and run this new system.
The plan is to produce 150,000 terminals which will support 300,000 users at more than 2,000 MoD sites and form the DII to have the capability to handle Restricted, Secret and Top Secret information.
Once fully implemented, the programme is estimated to cost £7.15 billion by 2015 – yet the scheme has suffered significant, costly and alarming delays.
By the end of July 2007 62,800 terminals should have been installed whereas by the end of September last year only 45,600 were in place.
The MoD blames two things: the optimistic assumptions about the condition of the buildings in which the systems were supposed to have been implemented, and ATLAS’s inability to meet the Department’s requirements.
So, of course the consequences of this are dire. Due to the fact that many of the computer systems haven’t been replaced, the old ones are outliving their potential and have an increased risk of failing.
What’s more alarming is the cost damage of this delay, as the DII Programme has now increased by an estimated £182 million while estimates are in place for £1.5 billion in due course.
They’d better get cracking though as a rapid improvement of at least 4,300 terminals a month will be needed if the Department's latest deadlines are to be met. μ
L'Inq
Parliament
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1.5 billion pounds instead of an estimated 182 million pounds (about a factor of ten) looks like a big mistage. But you have to look at the complexity of the problem, too.
If x is the mistake made in the initial estimate, then you will end up with a total cost factor y of y=1+x for ONE terminal. But when you start adding terminals, the complexity of your installation goes up as well, and you cannot describe that with a linear function. The actual problem is more likely something like y=(1+x)^n, where n here is the number of terminals. For example: one terminal in a room adds very little heat, but ten may be enough to heat a room, and you may have to add air conditioning. Your cables may not be rated for the ten-fold current, so you end up installing new cables, etc..
Now, if n is 150000, then x would be about 0.000015 if your total cost goes up by a factor 10. 0.000015 is a very small number. With x=0.000015 you would end up with an increase of only 0.015% for n=10. Of course my complexity function is a bit oversimplified, but I hope you still appreciate the different perspective of the problem.
BTW, thanks to the propaganda spread by banks in the UK, and their little helpers called journalists (the same people tell you that you are too stupid to accept the metric system), only 25% of the people in the UK want to switch from the British Pound to the Euro. For the banks it is just a matter of making money, while for 75% of the UK population this is a matter of pride. Well, see how much the pound lost against the Euro over the past years and you will understand why you have to pay more for your pride.
They made a huge deal out of 'upgrading' last year.
"The MoD blames two things: the optimistic assumptions about the condition of the buildings in which the systems were supposed to have been implemented, and ATLAS’s inability to meet the Department’s requirements".
So basically it doesn't work, and there's nowhere to put it if it did. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
IT and UK government departments don't go well together.
The NHS has a faultering useless expensive cumbersome system. The MOD is going the same way.
They repeatedly employ companies with a track record firmly emdedded in incompetance and failure.
This is no real suprise. One day when they move away from companies like the ATLAS members and the others they might actually get something installed that works, rather than just pouring tons of money down the drain for badly conceived and badly implemented overpriced rubbish.
They should employ more competant companies that make use of real experts, rather hundreds of MCSE schoolboys who think they know everything, but can only install a system if the requirements are given in multiple choice questions.
The MoD are complaining things don't arrive on time, yet they allow their contractors to shed experienced staff at the whim of some USA-based grunt. Look what's happening to the leader of the ATLAS consortium (EDS, an HP company).